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CHRISTINA ASHCROFT

Thank you to Under the Covers for hosting me here today to help celebrate the release of my erotic paranormal romance, ARCHANGEL OF MERCY! But since it’s nearly Christmas I thought that instead of chatting about my book it would be good to talk about favorite traditions. So I’m going to start with Halloween. 🙂

I grew up in England before moving to Australia several years ago, and Halloween was never really celebrated. The first time I came across the whole trick or treating thing was when I watched the movie E.T.! We didn’t have any of the dress up parties or amazing pumpkin heads. In fact it wasn’t until this year, when my daughter’s American fiancé was staying with us, that I finally got to see a proper Halloween pumpkin head. We put them out front on our garden bench where they glowed eerily all night long. I kept going outside to admire them!

Another tradition we never celebrated in England was Thanksgiving. I think this is a real shame, because what a wonderful thing it is to make time to celebrate with our loved ones all the good things we have. But this year we did have a Thanksgiving dinner, and I finally got to taste a pumpkin pie! Well, yum. I had no idea what I was missing!

However, there is one good old English tradition that for some reason has never taken off across the world (!) And that’s Guy Fawkes Night, otherwise known as Bonfire Night or The Gunpowder Plot of 1605. On 5th November, or thereabouts, we’d build a bonfire and burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes, the man who attempted to assassinate James I and most of Parliament by blowing them up.

It wasn’t until I was much older that it occurred to me what a bloodthirsty and rather horrible tradition this is! But as a child I loved making a guy and stuffing it with old newspaper, and we would always have fireworks.

And now it’s nearly the end of another year and we’re looking forward to celebrating Christmas with family and friends (that’s always assuming the Mayan calendar isn’t predicting the End of Days next week!) Unlike in England at this time of year, Christmas in Australia is hot, sunny and often entails a walk on the beach. Weather wise it doesn’t feel like December at all, but despite the fact everyone we know tends to have a seafood platter and barbeque for Christmas Day lunch, we still go for the full turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

But although superficially December in Australia is completely different from England, at its heart it’s the same. Because it’s all about getting together with loved ones and sharing the good times. And this year that includes raising a glass of bubbly to my gorgeous, tortured Archangel, Gabriel!

Archangel of Mercy

Berkley Heat
4th December 2012

Destined to fall… destined to love…

When Aurora Robinson attempts to open a rift between dimensions to embrace her true heritage, an arrogant Archangel is the only one who can save her from the jaws of hell. And while she owes Gabriel her life, she’s determined not to fall at his feet-despite the desire she feels whenever they’re together.

After his wings were brutally destroyed millennia ago, Gabriel has no compassion for humans like those who ruined him and betrayed the ones he loved. But when he inexplicably finds himself defying ancient protocols to rescue a woman from a fate worse than death, he is shocked by the searing attraction he feels for a mortal.

As the ancient forces that seek to punish Aurora for her actions close in, Gabriel offers the tempting woman protection at his private sanctuary. But as they both succumb to their desires, they discover an even deeper connection-one that threatens to consume them.

About the Author

Christina Ashcroft is an ex-pat Brit who now lives in Western Australia with her high school sweetheart, their three children, an eccentric Maltese-cross and three regal cats. She can’t remember a time when she didn’t write, and always managed to include an element of fantasy or the paranormal in her English essay homework. Luckily her English teachers didn’t mind, despite the fact these stories generally finished with the hero, heroine (or both) coming to a sticky end. Thankfully by the time she hit fourteen she discovered romance novels and the wonder of a Happily Ever After. She now writes about hot archangels and the women who capture their hearts for Penguin/Berkley Heat and her books always have a happily-ever-after.

Christina is a member of the Romance Writers of Australia, Romance Writers of America, the Dark Side Down Under group blog and the Romance Writers of the Apocalypse blog. She is a contest judge for RWAm, RWAus and RWNZ. She was a member of the inaugural Professional Development for Authors team and has been part of the editorial team for the Romance Writers of Australia’s monthly newsletter, Hearts Talk.

Christina also writes hot historical romances as Christina Phillips

Christina Ashcroft Website

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ARCHANGEL OF MERCY up for grabs.  US only.

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